As part of Tuesday’s D&D Direct, Wizards of the Coast and Mojang Studios announced a collaboration on a Minecraft DLC coming soon to all platforms! The story-driven Minecraft Dungeons & Dragons brings legendary player classes, Forgotten Realms locations, and of course, monsters to block-shaped life. Nerdist saw an extended preview of the upcoming downloadable content. It’s a game inside the game that promises to be a completely unique Minecraft experience.
Riccardo Lenzi, Senior Producer at Mojang Studios, and Tom Sargent of Wizards of the Coast described Minecraft Dungeons & Dragons as an action RPG inside Minecraft. Estimating the total play time at around 10 hours, Lenzi said that the content kicks off as almost all great D&D adventures do: by rolling dice in a basement. Then the magic happens, and the game transports your character from the Minecraft world to the Forgotten Realms.
Players can take on the role of a barbarian, paladin, rogue, or wizard as they embark on their journey. The DLC story is optimized for a single player, said Lenzi, but friends can enjoy the world alongside each other. In the Forgotten Realms they’ll face beholders, mimics, mindflayers, and so much more. Each will be depicted for the first time in the iconic Minecraft block style. The action makes use of a 20-sided die, including conversation options based on ability checks D&D players will be very familiar with.
In the preview we saw, for example, the player had an interesting choice to make during conversation: they could roll an insight, intimidation, or persuasion check with a click of a button. New user interface elements like those buttons along with a full, custom in-game menu demonstrate how the development team wanted to make Minecraft D&D feel like a true D&D experience.
And, yes, there will be dungeons and dragons.
While the Dungeons & Dragons items and mobs won’t be available outside the DLC, a set of skins celebrating all 12 D&D player classes will be part of the pack. Players can show those off anywhere in the Minecraft world.
Minecraft D&D is a far-ranging adventure across five Forgotten Realms locations. The original, fully-voiced story brings the World’s Greatest Roleplaying Game to life inside one of the world’s greatest online games. But what about the other way around?
Monstrous Compendium Vol. 3: Minecraft Creatures, available today on D&D Beyond for no additional cost, gives Dungeon Masters new but very familiar creatures at their disposal. You can now seamlessly add five classic Minecraft mobs, each with their own stat blocks, descriptions, and brand-new art, to any D&D campaign. Among them are the Ender Dragon, Enderman, and Creeper (aww, man).
Minecraft Dungeons & Dragons DLC will be available on the Minecraft Marketplace later this spring.
Kelly Knox (she/her) is a Seattle-area author and writer who also contributes to StarWars.com, DCComics.com, and more. Follow her on Twitter at @kelly_knox to talk about just about everything pop culture.
